SOURCE: "To Frances Jammes - An Obituary Tribute," in Poet Lore, Vol. XLIV, No. 4, 1938, pp.

In the following essay, Mauriac eulogizes Jammes.

Those of us who do not believe that the affairs of men are governed by pure chance, rejoice at the honor which Our Almighty Father has bestowed upon his faithful poet in welcoming him with solemn acclaim into the glorious and eternal Company of His Saints.

The end came while Jammes was listening to the Services appropriate to that day, namely, to that part of the Gospel which we term the "Beatitudes," of which all are intrinsically applicable to him, but especially that one which promises that the meek shall inherit the earth. For, apart from occasional and purely superficial outbursts of violence, Jammes was meek; his was that inner meekness given only to those who truly love the poor, and to whom Poverty is the...